Speakers should never be placed directly on the floor. Smaller speakers should be sited on good speaker stands which are, again, isolated from the floor by spikes. Some speakers work best with a particular speaker stand. If you do not want to put your speakers on stands, a good wall bracket can be used. It is vital that the speaker does not wobble.

Are your speakers in the appropriate place? Some speakers are designed to work near the wall and some away from the wall. Bass response is accentuated when speakers are placed near walls so be aware of the effect of corners or alcoves.

For turntable owners, an appropriate support can make an enormous improvement to the performance. Is it time to replace your cartridge or stylus? And does your turntable need to be serviced?

Are all the mains leads in your system fitted with good quality plugs and wired properly? If you are using a multi-gang mains extension, is it good quality?

What interconnects are you using? An interconnect is a cable carrying the music signal from either a compact disc player, tuner, cassette deck, or video recorder into the amplifier. Good quality interconnects play a major role in the performance of your system. Many interconnects provided by manufacturers with the original equipment are capable of considerable improvement. Are you speaker cables of good quality?